Description
Let Them Eat Chaos, Kae Tempest's long poem written for live performance and heard on the album of the same name, is both a powerful sermon and a moving play for voices. Seven neighbours inhabit the same London street but are all unknown to each other. The clock freezes in the small hours and, one by one, we see directly into their lives, which are damaged, disenfranchised, lonely, broken, addicted, and, apparently, without hope. Then a great storm breaks over London — it brings them out into the night to face each other and their last chance to connect. Tempest argues that our alienation from one another has bred a terrible indifference to our own fate, but they counter this with a plea to challenge the forces of greed that have conspired to divide us, and to mend the broken home of our planet while we still have time. Let Them Eat Chaos is a cri de coeur and a call to action, and, both on the page and in Tempest's electric performance, one of the most powerful poetic statements of the year.
Endorsements
Shortlisted for the 2017 Mercury Music Prize